6 key steps to manufacture modern Steel with Blast Furnace Route

The modern Steel making process that was initiated in the late 17^th century has come a long way from the early Open Hearth process to the advanced Electric furnace. There has been constant Research and Development in the industry to improve the quality and application of the alloy and also reduce defects. The developments around the globe have given a boost to the manufacturing demand for Steel.

Here are 6 key steps that modern steelmakers use to manufacture superior products:

1            Iron-making

Iron is the main starting raw-material for Steelmaking. It is found in its raw form as Iron ore which is melted along with lime and coke in a blast furnace to give a more refined material. The result of this melting is a molten iron which is quite brittle because of the carbon impurities in the metal form. 

                Primary Steelmaking

Once the molten iron is ready, the primary steel process can be initiated. There are two common modern steps for Primary Steel manufacturing; Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOS) and Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) which employ different systems for Steelmaking.

As the name suggests, BOS uses Oxygen in its process. Scrap (recycled Steel) is added to the molten iron in a convertor and oxygen is passed through this liquid solution at high temperatures to reduce the carbon impurities. 

For the EAF method, scrap steel or sponge iron and the molten iron are mixed in an Electric Furnace at up to 1650 degree Celsius temperature to form a very high quality molten Steel.

                 Secondary Steelmaking

The next step to preparing the Steel is to treat the molten steel produced in the Primary Steelmaking to achieve a desired composition of the alloy. Manipulation of temperatures or removal/addition of certain elements to the molten Steel are carried out. Stirring, ladle injection, degassing, argon bubbling, etc are the processes that can be undertaken to achieve the required quality and type of steel.

               Continuous casting

This step is very crucial for the manufacturing process. The molten Steel is solidified into different casts to form semi-finished products, billets, bloom, or slab which can be further finished in the Rolling mill. These semi-finished products serve different applications, billets are used for long products like bars and wires; blooms are further finished to make sections and beams; slabs are used for preparing flat products like plates and strips. 

                Primary forming

The Semi-finished blooms, slabs, and billets are often further processed without adding or removing any material from the products. When hot rolled, these semi-products achieve the desired shape and eliminates any cast defects without compromising on the quality. Once the hot-rolling is completed, these formed products are divided as long tubes, flat products, seamless tubes, and specialty products.

              Secondary forming

This is the final step of Steel manufacturing which involves a variety of manufacturing, finishing, and fabrication processes. This stage develops the Steel to give it its finished shape and properties through the variety of shaping, galvanizing, welding, tempering, drilling techniques.

At Agni Steels, we are driven by quality and process management and we ensure the necessary steps are incorporated at our modern and advanced Steel manufacturing unit to provide premium quality products consistently. We have our customized process that is industry-standard approved to deliver consistent and quality products and services.